Good and Bad News

COMMITTEES

NO WRITER ATTRIBUTED
June 5, 1980

After almost two-and-a-half years, the College Committee on Race Relations told the community it had some good news and some bad news.

The good news is that race relations at Harvard are getting better. The bad news is that one of every five students doubts the academic abilities of minorities, that many think the College's commitment to affirmative action is less than genuine, and that students perceive more prejudice in their relations with peers than with Faculty or staff members.

Based on a series of open meetings and an exhaustive survey of 25 per cent of undergraduates, the committee issued 13 recommendations, among them the inclusion of courses on race relations in the Core Curriculum and the establishment of a discrimination grievance procedure.

The report, the first ever in-depth examination of race relations in a college environment, was greeted with some skepticism.

While the committee's student members predicted that administrators would never enact appropriate policies, President Bok formed yet another committee: this one to look into setting up a campus center for Third World students.

Backers of the center promised great results, but others, pointing to one conclusion of the Epps report, cautioned that the center would simply lead to increased racial separatism. See Section 3